In the bookstore the other day I noticed that the newest issue of Playboy has a photo shoot with Kristy Swanson. I’m sure there are many other celebrities that have decided to pose for Playboy, but has doing so EVER rejuvenated their career?
Two other big-name celebrities that I can think of right now that posed in Playboy are Shannon Doherty and Tiffany (from “I Think We’re Alone Now” fame).
Why do they do this and has it ever helped their career?
Maybe they’re more concerned with rejuvenating their bank account and not their career.
Drew Barrymore. Not sure how much posing for Playboy had to do with it; I’m sure getting off of drugs and alchohol and then proceeding to work on her career very, very hard had a lot more to do with it. But, she did pose, and her career did take off not too long after.
But yeah, I can’t see it working in too many cases.
Didn’t Jayne Mansfield pose first, then do movies? If she hadn’t posed, she might never have been known…
In a similar vein, some women had no careers to speak of before posing in Playboy (i.e. the Barbi Twins.)
These days posing nude may or may not boost a career, but it certainly doesn’t seem to hurt it any. (Unless you count being stripped of your Miss America crown a downside, which I don’t.)
same with monroe
hehe… Stripped, I get it…
After the Jim Bakker fiasco ceased to amuse the American public, Jessica Hahn began to slip back into obsurity. That is, until she parlayed the display of her recent… investments into a fairly lucrative radio show job, some acting roles, and regular model work.
Some may view it as a very modest success, but considering her prior career path, I think it’s a decided improvement.
True has beens are usually not suitable material for posing nude in Playboy in the first place. Both from an interest and visual standpoint.
As I recall Burt Reynolds posed nude in Playgirl(?) at one of his several low points and got a big career boost from it. But that was such a novelty at the time.
I’ve wondered the same thing- all things considered, I’d have t o say that posing for Playboy is a lot like appearing on “Match Game” or “The Love Boat.” That is, it’s a sign that an actress is either young and desperate or waaaay over the hill.
Notice that Kristy Swanson is posing, but Sarah Michelle Gellar is not. Notice that Nancy Sinatra did it, but Celine Dion hasn’t.
Notice that Farrah Fawcett turned down such offers in 1976 (whenevery teenage boy WANTED to see her do it!), but does it regularly now (when NOBODY wants to see her do it!).
Current stars don’t gain anything from doing a Playboy pictorial. Washed-up former stars get a payday and a brief mention on “Entertainment Tonight.”
In Playboy’s history, I can only think of two women for whom a nude layout was probably a good career move, at least in the sense that they went on to become major stars: Marilyn Monroe and Kim Basinger.
BTW, Burt Reynolds’ famous spread was in Cosmopolitan, and was as much a parody of Playboy as a piece of genuine cheesecake. It was deliberately goofy, more than sexy.
Jenny McCarthy parlayed her Playboy fame into (after a stopover at MTV) an NBC sitcom. Granted it didn’t last long, but you could hardly argue that it wasn’t a good career move.
Erika Eleniak went from TV extra to Playmate to B movie actress. She’s not by any means a star, but she appears to have worked pretty steady. Seems to have been a good move for her.
Anna Nicole Smith got some fame and publicity from her playmate of the year win. Anyone think she’d have her own show if she were just another doped up hillbilly with big boobs instead of a former POY?
Other than that, I would agree with Astorian that posing seems to be for the desperate beginners or the desperate has-beens.
Re: Erika Eleniak - she was the girl in Under Siege, and like you said she probably wouldn’t have gotten the role if they hadn’t seen her goods in Playboy.
And the reason Celine Dion’s not posing is because… She’s not attractive!
Oh, and Farrah’s still hot. I wouldn’t mind full frontal. I’m just sayin’.
As an incidental note, Vanessa Williams lost her Miss America crown from a scandal relating to Penthouse, not Playboy, and she hadn’t deliberately posed for Penthouse in any case.
Of course, one could argue that the overblown nature of the scandal made her far more famous than almost any former Miss America. She had about a month left in her term (after which she could easily have sunk into post-Miss-America obscurity) and the scandal kept her name in the papers and Hollywood interested.
Seriously, how many former Miss Americas can you name?
Incidentally, Williams was much foxier in a business suit/skirt in Eraser (1996) than she was in the swimsuit competition in 1984.
Generally, actresses pose for PLAYBOY on their way down, not up (Think Dana Plato and Victoria Sellers here). There are some surprising exceptions, though.
Kim Basinger’s stock went up after she posed circa 1983.
Drew Barrymore and Jenny McCarthy have been mentioned earlier. Pamela Lee and Grace Jones also parlayed early appearances on PLAYBOY into lucrative showbiz careers.
I think MAXIM and the like have more or less replaced PLAYBOY in the culture at this point–they get bigger name models and actresses, who are less hesitant to pose in lingerie than starkers.
I don’t think anybody would know about Carmen Electra if she kept her clothes on either.
Pamela Anderson (Lee). Did Baywatch, posed for Playboy a number of times (one very recently), moved up to a major (though failed) motion picture, and now a very successful (no matter what you may think of it) television series. Not exactly what I’d call “on the way down”.
Julie McCullough appeared in Growing Pains after numerous appearances in Playboy. However, several episodes into her run, her “dubious” past was “discovered” and she got the boot. I find it difficult to believe that no one on the show knew who she was prior to giving her the role.
Grace Jones is a man, baby!
Celine Dion is actually a very attractive woman-I wouldn’t mind looking like her.
What do you mean though, Vanessa Williams didn’t “deliberately pose”? From what I understand, the photos were pretty graphic, with simulated lesbianism or whatever.